互
联网巨擎谷歌公司(Google Inc.)正考虑推出面向消费者的付费有线电视服务，此举有可能在传统电视领域掀起一轮新的竞争。
Associated Press
一些知情人士称，谷歌公司今年9月份聘请的原有线电视公司高管杰里米•斯特恩(Jeremy Stern)是此前谷歌与媒体公司接触过程中的主要谈判者。
谷歌发言人表示不会针对传言或臆测发表评论。迪斯尼、时代华纳和探索传播的发言人则拒绝置评。
上述公司的接触凸显一个事实，即电视领域的控制权之争已经愈演愈烈了。近年来，电话公司开始闯入这个原本被有线电视和卫星电视运营商所占据的市场。而今像亚马逊(Amazon.com Inc.)这样的公司开始在节目内容上下功夫，而苹果公司(Apple Inc.)等企业则在通过iPad等设备努力创造新的节目收看体验，这些新设备很有可能成为一类新的电视机。
与此同时，康卡斯特(Comcast Corp.)等老牌有线电视运营商和卫星电视运营商则开始还击，他们开发出自己的应用程序，并通过互联网上的节目授权内容与他们的离线电视节目订户建立互动。
谷歌进军付费电视领域的努力存在很大变数。目前美国电视运营商每年从广告客户以及月付费订户那里获得的收入总额超过1,500亿美元。谷歌公司作为全美最大的互联网广告销售商，也打算从电视广告那里争得部分市场。而该公司的最新计划又将进一步威胁到有线电视和卫星电视运营商的订户收入。
此外，谷歌公司推出的其他一些举措使得用户能够以较低费用收看网上视频，从而也有可能影响到利润丰厚的电视订阅服务模式。10月末，该公司陆续同一些知名制片公司签约，为旗下视频网站YouTube推出大约100个靠广告收入支持的免费网上“频道”。谷歌此外还推出了一种名为Google TV的软件，这种软件可以安装在电视或有线电视机顶盒内，帮助人们搜索并收看来自互联网和电视频道的内容。鉴于用户对于第一版软件的接受程度不高，谷歌在10月末又推出了新版的Google TV软件。
曾在谷歌公司任产品主管的凯瓦尔•德赛(Keval Desai)称，谷歌多年以来一直在考虑进军电视业务。德赛目前在InterWest Partners LLC做风险投资。
他说，“电视建立在一个封闭系统之上，这是为何人们要想看ESPN或是其他频道，就只能去找传统的有线电视和卫星电视运营商。”而随着电视更多地和互联网建立联系，“像谷歌这样的网络公司将能够让人们看到同样高质量的内容，”而且很可能收费较低。
迄今有关堪萨斯城这项计划的许多细节──比如定价以及包括那些频道──都还不明朗。该计划是否会拓展到堪萨斯城之外的地区也是个未知数。目前在堪萨斯城之外，只有加州的帕洛奥多也在谷歌推出网上视频电话服务的考虑范畴之内。谷歌公司已经为加州帕洛奥多的部分居民铺设了高速互联网线路。
谷歌于去年2月份公布其计划在某地铺建宽带测试网络，当时该公司曾表示不打算让网络覆盖全美。
理论上讲，大多数娱乐传媒公司应该都会拒绝授权别家企业使用自己的节目，而那些属于分销商──比如有线电视运营商──的频道可能会是例外。不过，也有一些传媒公司的管理人士指出，频道所有者一向喜欢将他们的频道授权给各类分销商，卫星电视运营商也好，电话公司也罢，只要他们付的钱不比现有分销商少。
还有个大问题，即谷歌的野心有多大。
这家总部位于加州山景城的公司的高管们最近几个月一直在同传媒企业高管谈论他们的其他一些想法。据熟悉谈话内容的知情人士透露，其中一个内容是，通过允许付费订户获得完整有线电视频道内容的方式，扩大该公司YouTube网站频道内容的可能性。这个想法一旦实现，YouTube将变成“虚拟”有线服务。不过，据另一位熟悉谷歌公司的知情人士称，虽然相关公司可能就这个想法进行过初步讨论，但目前这个想法尚未正式提上谈判日程。
无论如何，一些媒体公司的管理人士表示，他们相信早晚有一天，谷歌或是苹果这样的科技企业将开始通过互联网提供类似有线电视和卫星电视节目内容的虚拟服务。那将远远超越谷歌在堪萨斯城的设想，在堪萨斯城，谷歌不过是想用自己的网络传播视频。新业务的推出将改变电视服务市场群雄割据的局面。目前，除卫星电视运营商外，大多数电视节目供应商的服务只能覆盖部分地区。
堪萨斯城宽频项目如今进展顺利。谷歌曾表示计划在2012年初正式开始运作该项目。根据SNL Kagan的数据，目前堪萨斯城电视订户数量最多的前三家电视运营商是时代华纳有线电视公司、以及卫星电视运营商Dish Network Corp.和DirecTV。
谷歌目前与Dish和DirecTV有广告业务合作。
Sam Schechner / Amir Efrati
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
Internet giant Google Inc. is considering a plan to offer paid cable-TV services to consumers, a move that could unleash a new wave of competition within the traditional TV business.
Google has looked at ways to expand a previously announced project to build a high-speed Internet service in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., adding video and phone service in a mirror of offerings from cable and telecom companies, according to people briefed on its plans. As a result, Google has discussed distributing major TV channels from companies like Walt Disney Co., Time Warner Inc. and Discovery Communications Inc. as part of the video service, though the discussions were exploratory and no final decisions have been made.
In September Google hired a former cable-TV executive, Jeremy Stern, who is spearheading talks with media companies, some of the people briefed on the plans said.
A Google spokesman said the company doesn't comment on rumor or speculation. Spokespeople for Disney, Time Warner and Discovery declined to comment.
The discussions underscore the intensifying battle for control of the TV set. In recent years phone companies have jumped into a market previously dominated by cable-TV operators and satellite-TV providers. Now companies such as Amazon.com Inc. are bulking up their content offerings, while Apple Inc. and others are trying to reinvent the viewing experience with iPads and other devices, and potentially a new type of television set.
Meanwhile, Comcast Corp. and other incumbent cable and satellite operators are fighting back, creating their own apps and lining up Internet-rights to programs that tie into their existing offline TV subscriptions.
Much is at stake. Television reaps more than $150 billion per year in the U.S. from advertisers and consumers paying monthly fees. Google, the biggest seller of ads on the Web, wants to snare a share of the TV ad dollars. And with its latest plan, Google threatens to undercut cable and satellite companies in subscription fees it may charge consumers.
Google's other efforts also threaten to undercut the lucrative subscription TV business model by fueling the availability of less costly online video. Just last week, Google unveiled a series of deals with celebrities and production companies to create roughly 100 free, ad-supported online 'channels' for its YouTube online video service. Google has also launched Google TV, software that can be installed in TVs or on cable TV set-top boxes and helps people search and find content to watch from the Web and broadcast channels. Google released a new version of the software last week, after the first was slow to be adopted by consumers.
Google has been thinking about a move into TV for many years, says Keval Desai, a former Google product director who is now a venture capitalist at InterWest Partners LLC.
'TV is built on a closed system, which is why traditional cable and satellite operators are the only place where consumers can get ESPN and other channels,' he said. As more TVs become connected to the Web, he said, 'Internet companies like Google will be able to give you that same high-quality content,' possibly at lower prices.
To be sure, many details about the Kansas City plan remain unclear, including pricing and channel lineup. It is also unclear whether it will expand beyond Kansas City. The only other market currently considered for the video-phone-Internet service is Palo Alto, Calif., where Google already has deployed high-speed Internet to some residents.
When Google unveiled its plans to build a test broadband network in one market, in February of last year, it said it didn't intend to build a nationwide network.
Theoretically, most entertainment companies could refuse to license their programming, with the possible exception of channels owned by distributors like cable operators. Even so, some media executives say that owners of channels historically have been willing to license their channels to various distributors, whether satellite-TV operators or phone companies, assuming they paid as much or more than existing outlets.
The big question is how broad Google's ambitions go.
Executives at the Mountain View, Calif., company have kicked around other ideas with media executives in recent months. One is the possibility of expanding its YouTube lineup of channels by licensing a full complement of cable channels for paying customers, according to people briefed on the discussions. That would turn YouTube into a 'virtual' cable service. But another person familiar with the thinking at Google said that while there may have been preliminary discussions about such an idea, it is 'not on the table right now.'
Still, executives at some media companies say they believe that a technology company like Google or Apple will eventually offer a virtual service over the Internet that is similar in content to what's sold by wired or satellite TV providers. That would go further than the idea envisaged by Google in Kansas City, where it would use only its own network to deliver the video. Such offerings could change the patchwork pattern of TV service in the U.S., where apart from satellite TV operators, most TV providers offer service only in discrete geographic areas.
The Kansas City broadband plan is well advanced. Google has said it aims to get that project up and running by early 2012. Currently, the top three TV providers in the Kansas City market, by subscribers, are Time Warner Cable Inc. and satellite firms Dish Network Corp. and DirecTV, according to data from SNL Kagan.
Google currently has partnerships with Dish and DirecTV to sell some of the companies' advertising inventory.
Sam Schechner / Amir Efrati
本文涉及股票或公司
Google has looked at ways to expand a previously announced project to build a high-speed Internet service in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., adding video and phone service in a mirror of offerings from cable and telecom companies, according to people briefed on its plans. As a result, Google has discussed distributing major TV channels from companies like Walt Disney Co., Time Warner Inc. and Discovery Communications Inc. as part of the video service, though the discussions were exploratory and no final decisions have been made.
In September Google hired a former cable-TV executive, Jeremy Stern, who is spearheading talks with media companies, some of the people briefed on the plans said.
A Google spokesman said the company doesn't comment on rumor or speculation. Spokespeople for Disney, Time Warner and Discovery declined to comment.
The discussions underscore the intensifying battle for control of the TV set. In recent years phone companies have jumped into a market previously dominated by cable-TV operators and satellite-TV providers. Now companies such as Amazon.com Inc. are bulking up their content offerings, while Apple Inc. and others are trying to reinvent the viewing experience with iPads and other devices, and potentially a new type of television set.
Meanwhile, Comcast Corp. and other incumbent cable and satellite operators are fighting back, creating their own apps and lining up Internet-rights to programs that tie into their existing offline TV subscriptions.
Much is at stake. Television reaps more than $150 billion per year in the U.S. from advertisers and consumers paying monthly fees. Google, the biggest seller of ads on the Web, wants to snare a share of the TV ad dollars. And with its latest plan, Google threatens to undercut cable and satellite companies in subscription fees it may charge consumers.
Google's other efforts also threaten to undercut the lucrative subscription TV business model by fueling the availability of less costly online video. Just last week, Google unveiled a series of deals with celebrities and production companies to create roughly 100 free, ad-supported online 'channels' for its YouTube online video service. Google has also launched Google TV, software that can be installed in TVs or on cable TV set-top boxes and helps people search and find content to watch from the Web and broadcast channels. Google released a new version of the software last week, after the first was slow to be adopted by consumers.
Google has been thinking about a move into TV for many years, says Keval Desai, a former Google product director who is now a venture capitalist at InterWest Partners LLC.
'TV is built on a closed system, which is why traditional cable and satellite operators are the only place where consumers can get ESPN and other channels,' he said. As more TVs become connected to the Web, he said, 'Internet companies like Google will be able to give you that same high-quality content,' possibly at lower prices.
To be sure, many details about the Kansas City plan remain unclear, including pricing and channel lineup. It is also unclear whether it will expand beyond Kansas City. The only other market currently considered for the video-phone-Internet service is Palo Alto, Calif., where Google already has deployed high-speed Internet to some residents.
When Google unveiled its plans to build a test broadband network in one market, in February of last year, it said it didn't intend to build a nationwide network.
Theoretically, most entertainment companies could refuse to license their programming, with the possible exception of channels owned by distributors like cable operators. Even so, some media executives say that owners of channels historically have been willing to license their channels to various distributors, whether satellite-TV operators or phone companies, assuming they paid as much or more than existing outlets.
The big question is how broad Google's ambitions go.
Executives at the Mountain View, Calif., company have kicked around other ideas with media executives in recent months. One is the possibility of expanding its YouTube lineup of channels by licensing a full complement of cable channels for paying customers, according to people briefed on the discussions. That would turn YouTube into a 'virtual' cable service. But another person familiar with the thinking at Google said that while there may have been preliminary discussions about such an idea, it is 'not on the table right now.'
Still, executives at some media companies say they believe that a technology company like Google or Apple will eventually offer a virtual service over the Internet that is similar in content to what's sold by wired or satellite TV providers. That would go further than the idea envisaged by Google in Kansas City, where it would use only its own network to deliver the video. Such offerings could change the patchwork pattern of TV service in the U.S., where apart from satellite TV operators, most TV providers offer service only in discrete geographic areas.
The Kansas City broadband plan is well advanced. Google has said it aims to get that project up and running by early 2012. Currently, the top three TV providers in the Kansas City market, by subscribers, are Time Warner Cable Inc. and satellite firms Dish Network Corp. and DirecTV, according to data from SNL Kagan.
Google currently has partnerships with Dish and DirecTV to sell some of the companies' advertising inventory.
Sam Schechner / Amir Efrati
本文涉及股票或公司
没有评论:
发表评论